Back in the Saddle

It has been a protracted absence from the boat project.  Life happens, you buy 2 horses for your daughters, build a barn, fence a pasture, etc..  Needless to say, I have had a lot of time to reflect on what I will be doing with this project (or not).  I have visited the idea of shelving the boat project totally...I have been chatting with my friend who is on year 4 of his project and still has at least another 6 months to go....once you get into a project and begin to realize the magnitude of the endeavor - you have two choices - sell the boat and save the money to buy a more finished project OR press on, because it will be worth it and you will have something all your own, with your own touches and something you know inside and out. 

I have spent about 8 hours over the last month and I am starting to get into the details of carefully dis-assembling a boat, so that you can put it back together again - only better.  I was able to get the port side "track" off the toe rail this weekend.  with about 35 stainless through bolts - this was no easy task and some had to be drilled out and later driven all the way through the toe rail.

Realized that the toe rail (which I was going to replace), is actually solid teak and with a little work will come back to life (pretty excited about this)  Most of the other wood in the boat is also teak and some can be saved and re-purposed.

I have also spend about 4 hours gutting out 1/2 of the interior cabinetry (all dry rot), it literally just separated from the hull wall with minimal effort.  I will be taking careful account of what I actually put back in down the road.



some of the many stainless bolts holding the track on

Track removed port side so far, toe rail intact

interior cabinetry removed, more to do, saving what I can for templates.